President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday led the nation in bidding a tearful adieu to J Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu who passed away in Chennai late on Monday night. Her body, which lay at the city’s important landmark Rajaji Hall throughout the day, was interred with full State and military honours near the MG Ramachandran Memorial in Chennai’s Marina Beach along the Bay of Bengal by evening. A huge crowd had gathered in Chennai to pay last respects to the star-turned-politician who was also the superstar of Tamil Nadu politics for decades.
The last rites of Puraitchi Thalaivi (revolutionary leader) Jayalalithaa were performed by her long-time close confidante Sasikala Natarajan and the AIADMK supremo’s nephew Deepak.
Even as thousands of AIADMK cadre chanted, “Puratchi Thalaivi Vaazhga” (long live the revolutionary leader), the mortal remains of Jayalalithaa, enclosed in a sandalwood coffin were buried, in a poignant reminder of the famous saying “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Except in this case, it would be stardust.
The Tricolour used for covering Jayalalithaa’s mortal remains was handed over to Sasikala by the soldiers of the Indian Army though the late Chief Minister’s blood relations were around.
Political leaders from all over the country, Union Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers of many States and even former Prime Minister Deve Gowda turned up to pay their last respects to the Iron lady of Tamil Nadu, who endeared herself to the masses through the series of welfare measures launched by her during her tenure as Chief Minister.
The largest-ever crowd in its recent history had gathered at Marina Beach from all over Tamil Nadu. “This is an unprecedented crowd, perhaps many times more than the people which had assembled for the funeral of former Chief Minister MGR in 1987,” said N Kalyanasundaram, Tamil Nadu’s political chronicler, who has covered the last journeys of Annadurai and MGR.
The capital city of Chennai looked more like a ghost town as the State mourned the passing away of its most loved and feared leader by observing a voluntary shut down.
M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, spent the whole of Monday and Tuesday in Chennai to express the Centre’s solidarity and respect to the departed Chief Minister.
O Panneerselvam, the new Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers who were sworn in at 1.30 am on Tuesday, stood with grim faces near the mortal remains of Jayalalithaa. The new Chief Minister was seen breaking down when Prime Minister Modi put his hands over his shoulders to console him.
What stood out during the interregnum between the visits of the VIPs to pay their homage to the departed leader was the body language of Sasikala Natarajan. Sasikala Natarajan, her husband Natarajan and close family members (popularly known as the Mannargudi Mafia) were seen calling the shots. An occasion which should have been a solemn function turned out to be an event to proclaim to the people that hereafter the AIADMK and the Government would be controlled by them.
Jayalalithaa’s neice Deepa Deepa Jayakumar, who was not allowed to meet her at Apollo Hospitals twice in the last 74 days, finally got to see her powerful aunt to pay tribute but after she was beaten up and chased out of Veda Nilyam early on Tuesday.
Though Deepa, daughter of Jayalalithaa’s late brother Jayakumar, lives at T Nagar in Chennai, the former was not allowed anywhere near Poes Garden or in the Apollo Hospitals following the orders of Chinnamma (Small Mother, as Sasikala is addressed).
Two days ago, Deepa, daughter of Jayalalithaa’s late brother Jayakumar, had caused a flutter in Tamil Nadu politics when she opened up to a Tamil magazine accusing Sasikala and her family members of ousting her from Poes Garden and vitiating the relations she had with Jayalalithaa. Speaking to Junior Vikatan, a popular Tamil weekly, Deepa who lives at T Nagar in Chennai had said, “I was staying with my aunt till I reached the age of ten. It was with the arrival of Sasikala and her family members I was ousted from Veda Nilayam, the residence of Jayalalithaa.”
To the bewilderment of all those present at the venue, a BJP MP was seen introducing Natarajan, Sasikala’s husband to Prime Minister Modi. Natarajan is known as a sympathiser of the lTTE and its slain leader Prabhakaran. Pon Radhakrshnan, Union Minister, was seen pulling Chief Minister Panneerselvam for introducing one of his acolytes and that to standing close to the body of the departed Jayalalithaa. “This is very indecent and a major embarrassment to the BJP,” a senior BJP leader told The Pioneer.
The AIADMK leaders and cadre lost a good opportunity to mend fences with the Opposition DMK on Tuesday as they looked the other way when leader of the Opposition MK Stalin accompanied by other party leaders paid floral tributes to Jayalalithaa. Both Panneerselvam and Sasikala chose to ignore the DMK’s heir apparent when he came to Rajaji Hall.
late Jayalalithaa remained a spinster throughout her life though there were reports in some film weeklies that she was married to Sobhan Babu, a Tamil and Telugu actor. But it has not been substantiated by Jayalalithaa at any point of time.
The divisions in the AIADMK are expected to come out in coming days as the new Chief Minister starts his new innings on Wednesday. The Supreme Court verdict in the Disproportionate Asset case involving late Jayalalithaa, Sasikala, Elavarasi (Sasikala’s niece) and Sudhkaran (Sasikala’s nephew) are expected any time. “The game is on now. It is not going to be a smooth sailing for the AIADMK,” said a political observer based in Chennai.